Wandering Thoughts

I haven’t posted anything in a couple weeks. Mainly because I’ve been thinking way too much about everything. I’ve started and put a pause on several posts because I couldn’t bring myself to finish thoughts that I am still processing.

Just over two weeks ago, we were struck by hatred and fear. A man with a gun made a choice to kill as many people as he could. I personally believe that he was a disturbed individual who was struggling to comprehend who he was. He wanted his name to be remembered, so he pledged himself to something he didn’t fully understand, but something that accepted his confusion nonetheless.

We have listened to so-called experts talk about how guns are dangerous and how if we make them illegal, everyone will comply. We have engaged in debates about safety, the right to carry, and how our society has been defined by people killing one another.

Last week, I shared the following video on Facebook:

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve done a lot of thinking. With all the negativity in the world, it can be really easy to continue that trend and let it consume your life.

We watch the news every night and all it seems to be is more bad news. More violence in the middle east. New terror attacks. The threat of ISIS. Another law enforcement officer killed. Another shooting.

We can either let these events define us. Or we can change the way we react and respond. We must change the way we allow these events to shape the way we see the world.

You see, we need to change how we think about our society and make the changes within ourselves to create a better future for all of us.

Here’s the facts: Our world is no longer safe. We live in a world filled with danger. We live in a world where our daughters and sisters have to walk through life looking over their shoulders because of the constant threat of someone taking advantage of them. We have to be aggressive at every moment because showing fear or hesitation is seen as weakness.

We live in a broken world. We live in a world where it seems like hope is a sliver of light in the distance.

If we want change, if we want to make a safer world for both ourselves and those who follow in our footsteps, we must be the spark that lights the fire in the night.

Does this mean I know what to do? Absolutely not.

But what I do know is that if we don’t change, our society will only get worse. If we don’t teach our brothers and sisters to respect one another, to value peace and acceptance, and to live in harmony with one another and the world around us, everything that we value could be lost to hate and fear.

I was listening to a conversation the other day and heard something that has been ringing in my head for the past couple days: “We must teach our children to fight with all the love that is in their heart.”

If you can love, you can fight. And if we fight, we still have hope. And if we have hope, we have the power to win.

Maybe later, I will share my thoughts on gun control, safety in our schools and work places, and the fear that is driving us to hate those we don’t understand. But now is not the time.